The
Holocaustwas the
systematic annihilation of six million Jews by the
Nazis during World War 2. In 1933 approximately nine
million Jews lived in the 21 countries of Europe that would
be occupied by Nazi Germany during the war. By 1945 two out
of every three European Jews had been killed.

But Jews were not the only group singled out for persecution
by Hitler’s Nazi regime. As many as one-half million
Gypsies, at least 250,000 mentally or physically disabled
persons, and more than three million Soviet prisoners-of-war
also fell victim to Nazi genocide. Jehovah’s Witnesses,
homosexuals, Social Democrats, Communists, partisans, trade
unionists, Polish intelligentsia and other undesirables
were also victims of the hate and aggression carried out by
the Nazis.

The number of children
killed during the Holocaust is not fathomable and full
statistics for the tragic fate of children who died will
never be known. Some estimates range as high as 1.5 million
murdered children. This figure includes more than 1.2
million Jewish children, tens of thousands of Gypsy children
and thousands of institutionalized handicapped children.

The world outside Nazi Europe received numerous press
reports in the 1930s about the persecution of Jews. By 1942
the governments of the United States and Great Britain had
confirmed reports about the Final
Solution - Germany's intent to kill all the Jews of
Europe. However, influenced by anti-Semitism and fear of a
massive influx of refugees, neither country modified their
refugee politics. No specific attempts to stop or slow the
genocide were made until mounting pressure eventually forced
the United States to undertake limited rescue efforts in
1944.

In Europe, rampant anti-Semitism incited citizens of many
German-occupied countries to collaborate with the Nazis in
their genocidal policies. There were, however, individuals
and groups in every occupied nation who, at great
personal risk, helped hide those targeted by the Nazis.

One nation, Denmark,
saved most of its Jews in a nighttime rescue operation in
1943 in which Jews were ferried in fishing boats to safety
in neutral Sweden.

Holocaust
Deaths:

Country/Region

Estimate

Germany
(1938 Borders)

130,000

Austria

65,000

Belgium
& Luxembourg

29,000

Bulgaria

7,000

Czechoslovakia

277,000

France

83,000

Greece

65,000

Hungary
& Ukraine

402,000

Italy

8,000

Netherlands

106,000

Norway

760

Poland
& USSR

4,565,000

Romania

220,000

Yugoslavia

60,000

TOTAL

6,017,760

Source: Nizkor
Project
statistics derived from Yad Vashem and Fleming, Hitler
and the Final Solution.